The present invention relates to products which reduce skin irritation, inflammation and odor by minimizing the production of volatile organic compounds by microbes at or near the skin's surface. More specifically, the present invention relates to products, such as diapers, incontinence garments, or training pants for example, which contain a stable carbohydrate-hydrogen peroxide mixture which, upon activation, releases a stream of oxygen which can act as a terminal electron (or hydrogen) acceptor during metabolism for bacteria on or near the skin's surface resulting in a significant decrease in the production of microbial produced volatile organic compounds. A preferred carbohydrate-hydrogen peroxide mixture is mannitol peroxide.
Human skin irritation and inflamation is typically the result of immunological events in the skin's surface that occur in response to exposure to skin irritants and/or skin injury. Inflamation and irritation is initiated by the production and release of pro-inflammatory mediators by skin cells which results in the recruitment and activation of circulating leukocytes. The process results in the hallmark features of skin irritation including redness, swelling and pain. It is well known that numerous molecules and microbes in aqueous and/or non-aqueous carriers on the skin can cause irritation resulting in skin inflamation.
Although little is known about the extent to which gas phase compounds, or metabolic gases, produced by microbes can initiate and/or exacerbate skin irritation and/or inflamation, it is believed that these gases can cause skin irritation and/or inflamation upon exposure. Gas phase molecules resulting from the activities of microorganisms are typically referred to as volatile organic compounds. Many volatile organic compounds produced by microbes at or near the skin's surface are well-known compounds such as oxalacetic acid, isovaleric acid, propionic acid, hexanoic acid, and the like, all of which are known skin irritants. While many of the volatile organic compounds produced by microorganisms are truly organic in nature as they contain carbon, some important compounds produced by microorganisms such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide are inorganic. As used herein, the term “volatile organic compounds” is meant to include both the organic and inorganic metabolic gases and compounds produced by microbes at or near the skin's surface which may be irritating to the skin, and is also intended to include both organic and inorganic compounds produced by microbes which do not fully volatilize and which can remain on the skin surface or in solution, such as a urine solution.
The microbial flora of the skin, mucus membranes, and of bodily waste products such as feces, urine, menses, and nasal secretions are a major source of various types of bacteria which can produce significant amounts of volatile organic compounds. For example, facultative anaerobic bacteria present on and near the skin produce volatile organic compounds during metabolism when a sufficient amount of oxygen to act as a terminal electron (or hydrogen) acceptor is not present in the environment. Because human excrement contains such a large number of bacteria which can lay next to the skin after release, these volatile organic compounds may be a major unrecognized source of irritants to the skin, and therefore may be a major unrecognized element of skin irritation in the diapered, vaginal, wound, and nasal environments. Also, these volatile organic compounds may be a significant source of objectionable odors.
As such, a need exists in the infant care, adult care, wound management, and feminine care products industries for products which are capable of controlling and reducing the production of volatile organic compounds from microbes at or near the skin surface. Such a reduction in volatile organic compounds may result in a significantly reduced amount of skin irritation and inflamation on the skin of the wearer, and may also reduce the production of objectionable odors at or near the skin's surface.